Ireland’s homeless crisis

The body of a woman in her 40s was found this week near Anderson's Quay Emergency Centre in Cork City. The Irish Times described the woman as a “warm and empathetic person who endeavoured to help a fellow rough sleeper who was experiencing suicidal thoughts”. It has also emerged that the woman was still grieving her son who had died in recent years. 

Since late August there have been a total of 8 deaths as a result of sleeping rough.      

The cold weather has officially come in as the middle of December approaches with just 2 weeks to Christmas. There should be nobody sleeping on the streets for Christmas and especially with the weather we are expecting such as frost and snow. It's a disgrace.          

Politicians canvassing earlier in the year have promised countless times to act on the homeless crisis in Ireland but have done very little since. A poll from RTE’s Claire Byrne Live stated that 70% of people don't think the government is fighting homelessness. 

Charities such as The Peter McVerry Trust, Focus Ireland, Cork Simon Community and also Cork Soup Kitchens are doing their very best to tackle the worsening issue but there are simply too many homeless people on the streets.

Founder of The Peter McVerry Trust, Father Peter McVerry made an appearance on The Late Late Show last Friday as he asked people to donate their Irish water refunds to the charity in order to help the homeless get permanent accommodation. 

In late November, another man in Dublin was also found dead on the streets of Ranelagh. How many more people are going to die before the government finally decide to do something?   

There are many things that the government could do to address the homeless crisis such as donating to charities and providing temporary housing to the homeless during these cold winter months. In the next few years I pray that some real action will be taken and many more people will be off the streets for good.

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